Robert Mentzer column: The messy messages of Wisconsin Libertarians

I interviewed Paul Ehlers, the Libertarian candidate in the 12th Senate District. He hit all the Libertarian high notes: liberty, small government, personal responsibility.

If you're elected, I noted, you'll be one legislator in Madison. How will you work with others to implement the Libertarian program?

"Well, No. 1," said Ehlers, an affable college professor from Rhinelander, "I'm not going to get elected. The most a Libertarian has ever done is 10 percent (of the vote), and that was when they raised as much money as they could and worked as hard as they possibly could. I'm not raising any money, and I'm not working as hard as I can. I'm not going to get elected."

Such is the lot of the Libertarian candidates. At best, they argue that they're playing a very long game, building slow and steady support through visibility in local and statewide elections. At worst, they can seem a little like stunt-candidates who attract a couple of percentage points but don't substantively influence elections or even move the debate much at all.

It's not the fault of third-party candidates that our winner-take-all system of voting is overwhelmingly structurally favorable to a two-party system. But it is a fact. And that leaves Libertarians like Ehlers and U.S. Senate candidate Joseph Kexel, whom I sat down with last week, struggling to break through in a system that isn't designed for them.

Kexel was in Wausau on a state tour after he was excluded from the debates with the two major-party candidates, U.S. Rep. Tammy Baldwin, D-Madison, and former Gov. Tommy Thompson, R-Elroy. Debate organizers required candidates have 10 percent in the polls or have raised $500,000 in campaign contributions, which Kexel called a "Catch-22" because how are you supposed to raise poll numbers or campaign cash without the exposure brought by the debates?

The problem for Kexel, a mild-mannered IT guy, is that it's tough to distinguish his rhetoric from that of an average fiscal conservative of the tea party wing of the Republican Party. He spoke about the debt we're leaving our grandchildren. He spoke about the need to cut federal regulations on businesses, especially small businesses. He spoke about the need to repeal Obamacare and replace it with free-market solutions.

What is the difference, I asked, between you and a Republican?

"I really mean it," Kexel said.

To be fair, Kexel also said he opposes "all the wars, period" and believes trade should be the U.S.'s primary mode of foreign policy. He also supports abortion rights, an issue that can split the Libertarian coalition.

Still, even he admitted it can be a hard sell to persuade a voter who wants lower taxes, fewer regulations, Obamacare repealed and so on not to just vote Republican.

Another reason it's tough for Libertarians to get much attention, I think, is that there isn't much message coherence. Kexel presented as a fiscal hawk. Ehlers cheerfully advocated dramatic steps such as the elimination of the state Department of Public Instruction and a reversion to 100 percent local control of schools. Here in Wausau, 85th Assembly District candidate Jim Maas has advanced the politically astute though substantively questionable argument that Libertarianism represents a moderate, centrist position - fiscally conservative but socially liberal. I could imagine that appeal connecting with some voters. The problem is they will be totally different voters from the ones who connect with Kexel's message, or Ehlers'.

Not that it matters much. As Ehlers said, they're not going to win anyway.

Not long after we spoke, by the way, Ehlers caught a plane to Albuquerque, N.M., for the weekend, to visit one of his daughters and to catch that city's annual hot-air balloon festival. Maybe he had the right idea. I hear Albuquerque is beautiful this time of year.

Robert Mentzer is opinion editor of the Wausau Daily Herald. Follow him on Twitter @robertmentzer, or contact him at rmentzer@wdhprint.com or 715-845-0604.

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Robert Mentzer column: The messy messages of Wisconsin Libertarians

I interviewed Paul Ehlers, the Libertarian candidate in the 12th Senate District. He hit all the Libertarian high notes: liberty, small government, personal responsibility. If you're elected, I noted,

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